Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) has become an obsession in the industry. CMOs fight for performance, tweak bids, and test creatives. But few stop to question how many of those “acquired users” are actually ghosts, synthetic accounts, professional fraudsters, or serial bonus abusers who will never generate a single cent of return.
The math tells the story: if 15% of your new sign-ups are fraudulent (a conservative rate for the Brazilian market), you’re throwing away R$300,000 per month in an average operation with a CAC of R$120. Every month. Nonstop.
The hidden CAC nobody measures
Fraud in iGaming goes far beyond direct financial loss. It distorts every metric that supports marketing decisions.
Industrial-scale bonus abuse is the most common scam. Fraudsters create dozens, sometimes hundreds, of fake accounts to drain welcome promotions. Each fake registration consumes a full CAC— money spent acquiring someone who doesn’t exist.
Account Takeover (ATO) multiplies the damage. When a legitimate player loses their account and balance, they don’t just disappear, they become an active detractor of your brand. The reputational cost is incalculable. Earning trust takes months; losing it takes seconds.
Fraudulent chargebacks erode margins and jeopardize relationships with payment processors. Each dispute carries operational fees, chargeback costs, and—in volume—can threaten critical commercial partnerships.
The issue isn’t lack of marketing investment. It’s pouring budget into a leaky funnel.
Why doesn't traditional MFA solve the problem (and what does it solve)?
Many operators deploy multi-factor authentication (MFA) and believe they’re protected. They’re not.
A standalone MFA, without context, is easily bypassed by professional fraudsters. The Brazilian market has evolved: aged accounts, disposable SIM cards, device farms. Fraud has become sophisticated—defenses, not always.
The answer lies in identity orchestration—an integrated approach that validates the user before, during, and after registration, creating layered protection that works in sync:
Layer 1: Document validation (OCR)
Extraction and verification of ID data (RG, CNH, or digital documents) against official databases. This is the first barrier against mass registrations with fake data. The cost lies in OCR technology adapted to Brazil’s document diversity (state variations, eMRZ). The return is immediate: elimination of crude frauds with minimal friction for legitimate users.
Layer 2: Biometric liveness proof
Confirms that the person present matches the ID and is alive during verification. Passive liveness detection analyzes facial depth and micro-expressions without requiring user action, blocking photo, video, or deepfake attacks. This is the shield against identity theft—the kind of fraud that most erodes trust and LTV.
Layer 3: Continuous behavioral analysis
Geolocation, device patterns, VPN/proxy detection, and “location jump” analysis (impossible logins in short time spans). Operates silently in the background, identifying anomalies that signal fraud or multiple-account operations.
When these layers work in orchestration, MFA stops being just a security feature—it becomes a marketing optimization asset.
The real economics: when security becomes a competitive advantage
Let’s look at the numbers of a mid-sized operation:
Base scenario:
Technology cost:
Primary ROI: (300,000 / 45,000) - 1 = 567%
But secondary gains multiply that return:
Total savings: R$530,000/month
Adjusted ROI: (530,000 / 45,000) - 1 = 1,077%
Every real invested in identity security returns more than ten. It’s not a cost. It’s marketing leverage.
The new KPI: qualified CAC
The iGaming market is now mature enough to understand that not every acquired user is worth it. The metric that matters isn’t just CAC—it’s CAC of legitimate users with real LTV potential.
Operators that secure their entry gate aren’t just saving budget—they’re improving user base quality, reducing fraud-driven churn, building brand reputation, and creating a safe environment that retains high-value players.
Well-implemented identity security doesn’t block growth. It filters for the right kind of growth.
What separates vulnerable operations from scalable ones
Brazilian iGaming is growing fast. Regulation is advancing, the market is professionalizing, and competition is intensifying. In this landscape, two questions determine who will lead and who will merely survive:
Is your marketing budget acquiring players—or funding fraudsters?
Is your operation built to scale with quality—or to grow with leaks?
The difference between those answers is identity orchestration. And it’s no longer optional.
Legitimuz
Legitimuz is an identity orchestration platform specialized in the Brazilian iGaming market. It combines document validation, biometric liveness detection, and continuous behavioral analysis to protect operators against identity fraud, bonus abuse, and Account Takeover. The technology helps mid- and large-sized operations reduce wasted CAC, increase LTV, and build legitimate, profitable user bases.
Vitória Marques
SEO & Media Specialist – Legitimuz
